I first came across “Legend of the Seeker” early one lazy Saturday morning. I stopped on the channel because I recognized Charisma Carpenter as one of the characters, and I was excited to see her acting on another show. I was completely lost on the story line, but totally dug her leather outfit and killer braid. I watched random episodes as they would appear, weekend after weekend, but never investigated to find out what the show was really about.
Fast
forward a year to when I began watching the webseries: “The Guild”, and
joined their online fan community. One of the ladies there was an avid
Seeker fan and after months of reading her tweets about her campaign
‘Save the Seeker’ (the show was up for renewal and was ultimately
cancelled), I decided to check it out for myself. After watching the
first episode, I fell in love and enlisted my boyfriend to watch the
series with me.
On
the surface it’s your usual story: boy lives in small town, boy meets
girl, boy finds out he is secretly a hero and that someone he has known
all his life holds the key to who he really is. But beneath that, the
show shines in bringing together a trio (and eventually a fourth member)
of characters that, as a unit, are well written, complex and often
hilarious. Originally a series of books named “The Sword of Truth”,
written by Terry Goodkind, which I intend to read once I catch up on my
Game of Throne books. The show was produced by Sam Raimi (yes, from
Spiderman) for television in 2008 to 2010.
First,
there is our hometown hero Richard Cypher who can best be described as
‘the Ryan Gosling of the Midlands’ (see the Ryan Gosling meme for
reference). He can be a bit earnest and innocent in how he views the
world, but his sensitivity and big brown eyes win (almost) everyone over
in the end. Our woman of the world (and kick ass fighter!) is Kahlan
Amnell. She is a Confessor which means that she possesses some powerful
magic, in addition to her awesome fighting style. Our initial trio is
rounded off by the hilarious, wise and always snarky Zeddicus Zu'l
Zorander. Besides having the coolest name ever, Zed, as he is called, is
a powerful wizard whose love for Richard and Kahlan is only surpassed
by his ability to set everything right with a few words of knowledge or
wisdom.
Although
watching the season finale of the first season left me seething (I
literally screamed in anger and declared I hated the show, much to the
amusement of my poor boyfriend), “Legend of the Seeker” is definitely a
show worth watching for the humor, awesome action sequences and (you
knew it was coming) EPIC romance. It may at first remind you of other
ABC/UPN Saturday morning shows like Xena and Beastmaster where the
characters roam the same forest week after week, hoping you won’t
notice, but the show redeems itself in diversifying locales, getting
into serious issues and having baddies that straddle the moral divide.
At times, I felt like the show was rushed or uncertain of the direction
of the plot (the books and show are purposefully different), but overall
it was consistent in its humor and the message: (say it with me!) that
love and friendship can truly conquer all.
Personal
Notes: The pilot episode was amazing. It could have been a mini-series
on SyFy for all the seamless special effects it contained, and the
backdrop of New Zealand was beautiful. It is definitely worth watching
even if you decide not to continue watching the rest of the series. If
you liked “Xena” you might recognize a familiar face in the middle of
the season. The show is rated PG 13 and tends toward the violent action
side of fantasy.
Michele
Staff Writer for Anomaly
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